


Tomato Exchange

by Raptorgod69



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 17:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1612604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raptorgod69/pseuds/Raptorgod69
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lovino and Feliciano spend a year in Spain on an exchange trip and before long the pair of them begin to meet new people, you know, the special kind of people you never want to leave behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not too much fan service here at the beginning, but building chemistry is important. The Gerita's coming up in later chapters, so stay tuned!

An hour and a half on a flight to Spain was a tall order for two particularly rowdy Italian boys. Where as one of the boys couldn't keep his mouth shut asking constant and repetitive questions, the other couldn't stop telling the other to shut up. And of course he couldn't get by with a simple 'Lower your voice, Feliciano' he had to go with a more assertive 'SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PIECE OF TRASH OR THEY'RE GOING TO THROW YOU OUT OF THE GODDAMN PLANE'

This of course resulted in a lot of people getting incredibly upset, but despite the most valiant of efforts from the poor flight attendants the Italian brothers continued on like this for the duration of the flight. However one very important lesson was learned that day. No matter how many times you ask, they will not serve you pasta on a 50 passenger plane.

The hellish flight ended when the plane touched down on Spanish soil. It was another 30 minutes of waiting to exit the aircraft and some quick passport checks before the two of them could put the experience behind them. The next step in their year long exchange trip was finding their host family. This wouldn't prove to be all that difficult, all they had to do was look for a sign reading 'Lovino and Feliciano'. 

They hadn't any clue who it was going to be holding the sign, considering there had been minimal contact between the brothers and their host family. Communications had been primarily between their school and the host family. However the pair of them did know that the family included another young man, whose name had not been given to them yet. 

However it didn't take them long to find out because the very moment Feliciano caught sight of the sign they were looking for he ran right for the young man holding it up. People around must have assumed they were long lost relatives finally reuniting with the way Feliciano threw his arms around the boy. Lovino remained a few yards behind them as this happened, and upon watching his brother display such direct affection to a complete stranger he began to grimace. 

Luckily the unfamiliar young man was apparently an affectionate person as well and as soon as he got past the initial surprise of receiving the hug, he realized the situation and gladly returned the gesture. 

"Ah, I wasn't expecting such a greeting! Though I must say it's quite the pleasant surprise." The brunette spoke to Feliciano in Italian, which was yet another pleasant surprise. It was fairly obvious he wasn't completely fluent however, and he rolled his "R's" to no end. But it still made Feliciano feel a bit more at home. Too bad Lovino was the one prone to feeling homesick, and also the one who would rarely accept such a kind gesture.

"The hell you trying to do Feliciano! He probably has some Spanish disease get off him!" Lovino shouted as he approached the two of them, prompting Feliciano to let go of the taller boy and turn back to his brother. 

"What? I was just saying hello! No need to be such a crabby pants." He responded in a cheerful tone, a large smile painted across his face as it always was. The boy holding the sign seemed to sense an argument in the near future and swiftly pounced on his opportunity to prevent it.

"I'm Antonio by the way! You two must be Feliciano and Lovino, it is very nice to be meeting you." He smiled at the two of them as he said this, but it was a different smile than the one that Feliciano wore. He seemed rather nervous, and maybe it was because he feared tripping up on his Italian. 

"Yeah, yeah whatever douche bag. Are you driving us or what?" Lovino glared at Antonio, and got a good look at him as well. He was fairly tall and wore a red football jersey, along with a golden chain necklace with a cross on it. He appeared fit but wasn't quite under the category of muscular, and his hair was a short chocolate-brown mess. Looking at his face one thing was apparently obvious, he was attractive. But this wasn't an issue seeing as both Lovino and Feliciano had only ever had any interest in girls.

"Yes! I parked a few blocks down, I hope you don't mind. It's only a five minute walk." Antonio had seemed to be taken back by Lovino's rudeness, and yet it only took him a split second to brush it off. 

"We don't mind!" Feliciano cut in, clutching his over the shoulder bag. Then they were off to go find the rest of their bags, and after that they were on their way down the street towards Antonio's car. From the moment they left the airport Lovino had already taken advantage of the Spainyards kindness by making him carry his luggage. He didn't mind of course, and Lovino hadn't actually packed all that much so it was nary a tall order. Once all of their things had been packed into Antonio's car(which was really his family's car) they hopped inside, Antonio in the drivers seat and Feliciano riding shot gun. 

This left Lovino alone in the back seat where he sat with his arms folded, staring out the window at the beautiful spanish scenery he had yet to appreciate. As the two other boys conversed casually, Lovino tuned into every word. Antonio's full name was Antonio Fernández Carriedo and he was going to be senior in highschool once the fall semester started. He had previously gone to a private school, but he was about to transfer over to the Spanish International School that the Italian brothers were also going to attend once the summer was over. 

Feliciano talked a bit about how it was in Italy for them, and how they had attended a private catholic school until Lovino got expelled for swearing and Feliciano got booted for sleeping in class once too often. Antonio just laughed at this, making a little comment about having gotten in trouble for taking siesta's in class as well. The whole time they talked Lovino just sat in the back seat, staring out the window. 

He was thinking about how it was going to be in Spain. How long it was until he'd get kicked out again and shipped back home to get screamed at by his parents. Funny thing was, he understood all the things they yelled at him for better than they did. They'd tell him that he wasn't good at anything, that he was never going to pass his exams. But Lovino knew more than anyone that he was a failure. He didn't even have plans for his future, no one had to tell him that he wasn't going to amount to anything.

The worst part was that everyone seemed to love Feliciano so much more. He was always popular at school, and there was rarely a moment in time when he didn't have a few fine young ladies flocking around him. Even though he didn't do well in a lot of his classes, he was always good at art so as long as he could pass his classes and get through school he'd manage to find some sort of artistic career. If not that he still had a strong back-up of cooking skills. But Lovino had none of those things.

"Ay- Are you listening? We're here." Antonio's voice snapped Lovino out of his trance and the second his eyes refocused his mind had already prepared a line up of vulgar phrases to shout at the older boy. But before he could open that humongous mouth of his something much more intriguing swiped his attention.

Looking out the car window at the side of the house, through the open gate of a wooden fence surrounding the backyard a small garden could be seen. Squinting hard Lovino could make out the shapes of crimson fruits hanging from the arched vines. He nearly gasped at the sight, and instantly glanced back at Antonio. 

"... Are those tomatoes?"

"Oh, yes in the backyard! I've been growing them for a long time now. You're welcome to have some after you've unpacked." 

Lovino was nearly tearing up. There was at least one good thing through this god forsaken exchange trip that wasn't going to make him absolutely miserable. Without even thinking about making another go at exploiting the spainyard's hospitality and forcing him to carry his things in he snatched his own bags from the trunk and rushed inside. Antonio was quick to follow him and lead him to the room the Italians would be sharing, and it was only a matter of minutes until Lovino had unpacked all of his belongings. 

"Can I go have a tomato now?" Lovino spoke with a hopeful look on his face, but he was still lacking an actual smile. Antonio however was smiling away, and gave him a quick nod in response. 

"I can show you the way to the back yard, is kind of tricky." Antonio lead the way through his house, which was a beautifully open space letting in purely outside light. The walls were painted a pale yellow to reflect that light, and it really was a gorgeous interior. They walked over to a sliding glass door, opening up to a view that was enough to make any Italian cry.

All along the entire fence were rows of tomato plants, and it looked like all of them were near perfectly ripe. It took all the will power Lovino had in his whole body not to fall to his knees and start praising god. The other boy could tell that Lovino was flabbergasted and gave him a hearty pat on the back. 

"You really like tomatoes, don't you Lovino?"  
He chuckled as he said this, but the hand he had placed on the other's back was quickly slapped. 

"Shut the fuck up! Everyone likes tomatoes!"

"Sorry did I offend?"

"..."

"Would you like me to get you a basket? You can pick however many you would like."

"... Fine."

Antonio quickly scampered off to grab Lovino a basket, and he was left to stare at the glorious display of red fruits. Vegetables. Whatever. They seemed to taunt him as the summer sun shone upon their flawlessly smooth skin, and he could almost taste the tart juices flowing across his tongue as if he was biting right into one. He had a metaphorical tomato boner.

Antonio had to tap him on the shoulder to regain his attention, and Lovino hadn't even noticed that he was holding a tomato. Antonio must have handed him one when he was off in tomato land. 

"Are you going to try it or are you preferring to just stand there?" In response Lovino bit into the tomato, the juices inside instantly spilling onto his hands and running down to his wrists. He let out a little gasp as the flavors made contact with his taste buds and he was instantly filled with joy.Nothing beat eating a fresh tomato and for the first time all day a smile could be seen spread across his face. 

Antonio saw this and felt rather achieved to have finally made the cranky Lovino happy, and went to go pick him some more tomatoes as he finished eating the one he had given to him. Antonio had been so happy to have the two coming to live with him, and even though they were only sophomores he was sure they'd still be close by the end of the year. Besides, he only really had two close friends that would be going to the international school with him and it was always good to have more friends. And even if Lovino was irritating and lewd he was still company.

Once Antonio had collected enough tomatoes to fill his wicker basket he walked back over to Lovino who had just finished his tomato. As if on queue Feliciano came through the glass door, having unpacked all of his things in their room.

"Hey, what're you doing? Can I join?" Feliciano looked between the two of them before getting a response from Antonio. 

"I just finished picking tomatoes, have some if you'd like! We should probably head back inside though, it's hot out."

"Okay!"

The three of them went back inside and sat around the dinner table as Lovino and Feliciano munched away at the tomatoes. Feliciano was being a chatter box as always, and started going off about the most random things.

"I had a dream once that I was a tomato fairy! And then this angry guy hit me over the head with a stick, and he was really scary so I woke up and I was crying but when I tried to wake up Lovino he just yelled at me! But then I got up and made myself some pasta and everything was alright again. Say Antonio do you know how to make pasta? If you don't I can make it all myself and I'll make enough for all of us!"

Poor Antonio could barely even keep up with Feliciano, and it seemed like he missed a lot of the words he was trying to say to him. But luckily enough he at least caught the pasta part.

"Of course, i'm sure we have everything you'll need as long as you can help me make it fresh." Antonio stood up from the table and headed over to the cabinets, opening them up to double check if what he said was really true. It turned out to be so, and soon enough the Italian and the Spainyard were hard at work cooking the pasta. Lovino just sat watching, his stomach growling hungrily.

It was a long while until they finished cooking, and Lovino had decided to pass the time by chatting up girls on the internet using his cell phone. Antonio tried to ask Lovino to set the table which he responded to with a glare and a 'fucking hell no'. Luckily Antonio's dad arrived home from work soon enough to set the table for him, and once an adult was around Lovino say at the table with his hands in his lap. 

The rest of the evening was spent eating the delicious meal and some more introductions between Mr. Carriedo and the Italians, all translated through Antonio. After the meal Lovino could barely make it to the couch before flopping onto it and shutting his eyes. He always had a habit of over eating when there was good food, or when he was nervous. As soon as he had eaten, it was always time for him to sleep.

"Ehhh? Lovino did you fall asleep?" Feliciano had plopped down on the edge of the couch and proceeded to poke Lovino's head. 

"Shut the fuck up i'm trying to sleep..." Lovino muttered, rolling over so he was face down on the couch cushions. From across the room the sound of running water stopped as Antonio finished washing the dishes, having had some help from Feliciano earlier of course. He then joined the two of them on the couch and laughed when he saw Lovino on the couch.

"I see someone's taking a siesta. Should I carry him to bed?" Antonio said, looking down at him. He had somehow managed to fall asleep entirely already, and Feliciano was quick to answer.

"Sure! I'm sure he wouldn't mind!" That was of course entirely untrue, but Antonio was none the wiser. He then scooped up the smaller boy in his arms almost like he was carrying cat. 

"Oi, you're really light huh?" He spoke in Spanish this time (as he was speaking more to himself than the boy in his arms) and Lovino somehow remained fast asleep as he was carried to his bed and set down onto the mattress. Once he was on top of the covers he curled up and let out a few inaudible mumbles causing Antonio to smile. It was nice seeing Lovino like this, all sated and calm. Antonio wanted to reach out and maybe run a hand through the boys hair, but that was more of something he'd do with a girl so he stopped himself, and went back into his own room where he slept for the remainder of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lovino meets some of Antonio's friends, and makes quite the first impression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if there are any spelling or gramatical errors I had to self edit this one. Hope you enjoy.

The next morning Lovino found himself in an unfamiliar bed, and ever worse he was fully clothed. He absolutely hated sleeping with clothes on and it was extremely rare that he didn't wake up in the nude. And when he didn't wake up nude, he was usually pretty pissed off. But right now he was more focused on how he got in the bed, being infuriated would have to wait. 

A quick glance around the room and he saw Feliciano laying in the bed next to him despite the fact that there was another perfectly good bed in the room. Feliciano had always been just a bit too clingy, especially for Lovino's taste. Just as he looked back up towards the door he heard a knock, and he had to assume it was Antonio. Or at least he hoped it was. 

"Are you two awake?" A soothing voice calls from behind the door, and before the owner can even reach for the door handle Lovino shouts back.

"Who the FUCK brought me in here last night?!" 

"Oh- I... I did! I apologize was that bad? Feliciano said it was alright...!" Antonio peaks his head through the door with a guilty look on his face, which was probably a huge mistake. Lovino took his opportunity to chuck a pillow right for his face and proceeded to blow off some steam.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME WHEN I'M ASLEEP WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU FUCKING DO TO ME YOU BULL RIDING PIECE OF SHIT?!?!?!" 

"Ey ey ey calm down! I just carried you in here nothing else I promise you!"

"DON'T PLAY THOSE GAMES WITH ME YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID NOW FESS UP BEFORE I MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!!!"

The yelling continued on like this for quite some time before Antonio fled off back to his room with a hole in his chest. He felt absolutely terrible for carrying Lovino back to bed, not even knowing that he would have reacted the same way if he had simply left him to sleep on the couch. As Antonio hid in his room and Lovino attempted to cool himself down Feliciano remained asleep, probably dreaming about cats or food.

The rest of the day was spent with an ongoing tension between the two, and Feliciano continued to be completely unaware of this silent conflict. It wasn't until past sunset when Antonio and Lovino finally spoke again, and that was but a simple goodnight. Antonio still felt awful, and Lovino was still frustrated with him.

A few more days passed after that, and luckily things settled down just a bit more between them. They spoke every once in a while, and there were no more particularly nasty screaming fits from Lovino. Eventually Antonio began to understand that yelling and swearing was simply how Lovino functioned, and taught himself to laugh it off. Soon enough they were getting along just fine, Feliciano too was having a blast with his brother and new friend. 

Time flew and before they knew it there was only one week left in August, and one week after that until school would start back up again. Lovino and Feliciano had taken up the opportunity to sleep in that morning, and neither of them had even began to stir until a loud knock came from the front door. Okay, they still didn't get up after that but at least Antonio was awake to go answer the door and on his way over he popped his head into the brother's room to warn them that he was having company. Apparently neither of them cared if people were coming over and would potentially see the two of them stark naked if they happened to wander into the wrong room.

Antonio opened the door and there were instant greetings exchanged, but there was a bit more of an international flare to these greetings. Despite the fact that they were all speaking Spanish there were two distinct accents coming from the two young men at the door, French and German. The French boy had long wavy hair which had been tied back into a pony tail, and wore a clearly well planned outfit. Next to him was a boy of equal height (if not a tiny bit taller) with platinum blonde hair and striking crimson eyes. On his shoulder was a light yellow canary happily perched there like it was the most common of sights. 

The three young men all went inside and slumped onto the couch all of them seemingly completely comfortable at the home, implying they'd been over quite a few times. They talked for almost half an hour before turning on the TV. This to raised the volume of their chatter enough to wake Lovino, and his first reaction was to cover his ears with a pillow to drown out the noise. When that proved to be unsuccessful he grumbled and got up, grabbing a pair of boxers up off of the floor before exiting his room without a second thought. 

He stood outside his door with his hands on his hips and instantly begun what had become his routine morning shouting. 

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BEING SO LOUD THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING?! SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SL---" Lovino stopped in his tracks suddenly occurred to him that he was standing half naked in front of not only Antonio, but two complete strangers. He stood in silence his mouth hanging open and his face redder than a tomato, the two strangers grinning at the apparently entertaining display. 

"Oh, this is one of the exchange students I told you two about. Sorry he can be quite loud." Antonio seemed un-phased, and spoke calmly. At least the guests hadn't understood a word of what Lovino had yelled at him, or maybe that just made it worse. Either way the poor boy ran right back into his room and practically leapt into his bed to hide under the covers. He wanted to slip out of existence for just a moment, long enough maybe for everyone to forget that had ever happened. 

"I should probably go to check on him. He's probably pretty freaked out by all of this." Antonio spoke to his friends, rubbing the back of his neck out of habit. 

"Wait waaaait you can't just leave us with that! What's he like, have you had sex yet?" The curly haired boy spoke eagerly, leaning in towards Antonio with a devious grin. 

"Oi! It's not like that! He's only been here for a few weeks!"

"That's plenty of time to make a move! And he's way hotter than any of the douche bags from that stupid catholic school of yours. Not as hot as me though, but I feel like that was a given." The one with the bird spoke this time with an obvious stuck up nature to his words. Antonio just rolled his eyes and got up from his spot on the couch. 

"Oh you guys, always the kidders. I'm going to make sure he's alright." He went over to the bedroom from which Lovino came and knocked on the door before letting himself in.

"Hey, Lovino? Are you alright?" He said with a soft tone, trying to be soothing to avoid arousing a screaming fit. 

"Get out of here." 

"It's okay if you're upset, I should have warned you they were here. But they don't mind, they are just guys."

"I said get out you bitch!"

"Please just give them a chance, they really are nice! I'll tell you what, if you come out again i'll make you a big breakfast burrito!" Lovino stayed silent after Antonio said this and since the request had to do with food it implied that he'd be out in a few minutes prompting Antonio to reluctantly return to converse with his pals.

"Lovino...? What are you doing up so early...?" Feliciano had woken up only a few minutes before, and was sitting up above the covers of Lovino's bed. He had slept there the night before, like usual. 

"Go back to sleep already, jesus!"

"Huh? What's wrong? Antonio wasn't mean to you was he?" 

"I said go back to sleep you idiot!"

"What happened? You can tell me!" Feliciano persisted, wanting to do anything he could to help his twin brother. They had never really been close with each other, but he still knew how important it was to look out for Lovino. But he had stopped responding all together and it wasn't hard to figure out that he just wanted to forget whatever had upset him. And for once Feliciano shut his mouth and took the opportunity to go back to sleep.

Back in the living room the three highschoolers were busy talking, and once again going off about Antonio's potential love life. 

"You have a whole year with him here, and even if you screw up you'll only have to put up with him until he leaves again!" The German nearly shouted this, and the Spainyard wished he'd lower his voice.

"Gilbert be quiet! ...But wouldn't it be awkward with his brother around? Sure Feliciano is a sweet kid but I would hate to make him a third wheel."

"Ah that is true," The French boy cut in. "We wouldn't want to leave him out now would we?"

"That's no problem, we'll just set him up with my younger brother!!"

"Your younger brother is gay?"

"I knew it! Ludwig never has girls over! If only he was more my type i'd love to-"

"Francis! You two stop getting so off topic! What do you really think I should do?" When he cut in again Francis and Gilbert seemed to run out of things to say. They wished to be saying some lewd comments about what he should do, but in reality it wasn't a good time for an inappropriate joke. It took a minute or two, but finally Francis came up with something practical to say.

"Are you positive that you have feelings for Lovino?" He looked right at Antonio as he said this, and there was a very obvious hesitation before he received an answer.

"I- Yes. I'm almost positive."

"Then go for what your heart tells you to do, and i'm sure whatever that is will be the right decision." An unimaginable amount of relief swept over Antonio when he heard this, and he gave his friend a quick nod. 

"Right, of course."

"And don't forget to tell us all of the dirty details!" Gilbert cut in, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows. They all had a good laugh, and eventually their focus was drawn back towards the football game playing on TV. It took longer than expected for someone to venture out of the shared bedroom, and when someone finally did it was Feliciano fully dressed and well rested. He went straight for the kitchen of course, and grabbed himself some leftover pasta to warm up in Antonio's microwave.

"Hey, Lovino is that you in there?" A call could be heard from the living room, and Feliciano's response was almost instantaneous. 

"No it's me! Say do you have friends in there? I heard people talking."

"Oh yes they're my friends, you should come in here and meet them! Gilbert doesn't speak Italian, but I can always translate for you."

"Okay! Be right in!" Feliciano waited until his pasta was done being heated up before quickly exiting the kitchen. The trio in the living room was eagerly awaiting his arrival, and when he arrived he quickly sat down on the couch in between Francis and Antonio. 

"This is Feliciano I was telling you ab-" Before he could say another word of Spanish Francis cut in speaking incredibly fluent Italian to the boy.

"Oh ho ho hello! I'm Francis, but you can call me whatever you'd like. I heard you like food, you're welcome to come over to my place anytime and i'll cook for you! Maybe afterwards we could-" Another necessary interruption was made by Antonio.

"Lay off of him! I apologize he can be a bit forwards."

"It's okay Antonio! It's nice to meet you Francis, I'd absolutely love to try your cooking sometime." Feliciano responded, blissfully unaware of Francis's ulterior motives.

"See no harm in saying hello!" Francis pouted to Antonio, but he had gotten the message to stay away from Feliciano. Still, Antonio made note to watch out for him around Francis. At the other end of the couch Gilbert was looking confused, as should have been expected considering he spoke barely a lick of Italian. He was no idiot however and had at least gotten an idea of what they were talking about, but he wanted details. Lucky for him Antonio was quick to translate the conversation back to him, which brought Gilbert to a large outburst of laughter.

This laughter could be heard from Lovino and Feliciano's downstairs bedroom, but to the singular occupant he thought it to be nothing more than a mocking gesture. He had planned to leave and get that breakfast he was promised, but he couldn't possibly bring himself to leave the safety of the room. His stomach was begging for tomatoes, but he forced himself to suppress the need.

The thing that was keeping him in place more than anything was fear. He kept thinking of Francis and Gilberts faces, they hadn't at all looked embarrassed or surprised. They looked like they had enjoyed it, and that scared him. What if they were into younger guys? The only reassurance Lovino had was the fact that Antonio would look after him, but as soon as he was left alone he was completely vulnerable. These thoughts came to a grinding hault when there was another knock on the door.

"Lovino? May I talk with you?" It was Antonio's voice, accompanied by a guilted undertone. "I brought you a tomato." Lovino wanted the tomato, and they both knew it. His stomach screamed at him, and it was a cry he could no longer ignore. He popped his head up from the covers so he'd be able to speak audibly. 

"... Come in and close the door. And you had better be alone!" Antonio was relieved by this, and slipped silently into the dimly lit room. Seeing Lovino hugging himself on the bed didn't bring him very much relief at all, an he went right over to join him on the edge of the bed. He set the tomato down in front of Lovino, who instantly snatched it up.

"Heh, it's funny that the one thing we manage to have in common is tomatoes." Antonio said quietly, smiling to himself. After about a minute of no response he spoke again. 

"I've always loved tomatoes, since I was very young. I remember playing in the fields when I was younger, with Francis. He used to come every summer before moving here from France for highschool, and even with only a few months together out of the year we were always close. We didn't meet Gilbert until I was about your age- no no it was freshman year. He could barely speak Spanish then, and his loud German was really scary at first. But soon enough we started to all get along. I wasn't with them at school, but once the bell rung we really were the three amigos! It's been like that ever since. They help me with everything, and in turn I help them. Oh sorry i'm rambling..." 

"... Why did they look like that when they saw me?"

"Huh? Oh you mean grinning? Ah, ha... They're just odd like that. Always the most... Well they aren't perverts I assure you!"

"That's fucking comforting coming from you."

"What do you mean? Are you saying i'm pervy???"

Lovino bit his tongue and went right back to staring at the carpet. He would've told Antonio off and accuse him or perversion, but he didn't want to fight with him. 

".... You didn't hear what we were talking about did you?" Antonio asked, chewing his lip. 

".... No." Lovino answered honestly despite his curiosity towards what they had been talking about. He assumed they were having inappropriate conversations about women, or at least he hoped it was women. 

"Thank goodness... We weren't talking about you I promise!"

"You'd better not have!!!" Lovino shouted at Antonio who just laughed.

"There you are, I was starting to think you'd forgotten how to raise your voice!"

"SHUT UP!!!" Lovino shoved Antonio full force, yet only managed to push him over onto the mattress. Antonio laughed more and shook his head, not yet bothering to sit back up again.

"So will you come out and meet them now? I'm still happy to make you breakfast! Though, it's not exactly breakfast time anymore."

"Fine."

"Fantastic!" Antonio leapt up off of the bed and held out a hand to Lovino, offering to help him up. Lovino glared and got up from the bed on his own and walked over to the door. Of course he froze before he could grab the door handle, realizing that he was still in his underwear and ran to his closet to grab himself clothes. He changed right in front of the senior, but never caught if he was watching. 

A few minutes later they were all in the living room watching football, screaming at the television in their native tongues. It was quite the display, and they all seemed to be entirely consumed by the game. The only ones that seemed a bit distracted were Antonio and Lovino, who were sitting together at the edge of the couch. They were of course yelling along with Gilbert and Francis, but it seemed like as soon as they stopped yelling they'd glance over at each other, almost like they were making sure they were still sitting close. Lovino would glance away and go right back to yelling whenever Antonio tried to smile or laugh about it, but they were both aware of what they were doing. 

The rest of the afternoon passed this way, minus a few times when Feliciano drifted off and Antonio had to wake him up before Francis took advantage of the opportunity. The rest of the time was filled in with idle chatter, mainly between Francis and the twins. Gilbert spoke to them as well, but his comments on them were heavily censored by Antonio. He wouldn't want them to be subjected to what the German was trying to throw at them. Just before dinner the guests left to go join their families for dinner, leaving with hearty good byes and a few overly friendly hugs.

"What a fucking relief." Lovino grumbled as he dove back onto the sofa. He propped up his chin so his rude tone of voice wouldn't be muffled by the couch.

"Antonio go make me food." 

"I can help too!" Feliciano added just before Antonio could respond.

"Oh no no, I can make the two of you food. It's the least that I can do after making you spend so much time with my friends."

"Damn right it's the least you can do."

"Who are you kidding Lovino? Antonio's friends are really fun!"

"Don't defect to their side you idiot!!!"

"Oi, you two should calm down. I'll be ready with dinner quick!" 

Antonio kept his word and in no time at all he had fresh fideuà waiting for them on the table. Feliciano seemed particularly interested in it, and as soon as the bowl hit the table he was hovering over it. 

"What is it? Is that a kind of pasta?"

"Yes! It's made with seafood."

"Ooh! It looks delicious!"

Talk about the meal was enough to draw Lovino away from his phone and right over to the table, where he sat down and stared at the bowl.

"It's nice of you to be joining us Lovino!" Antonio smiled kindly at the young man across the table, but received no such thing in return.

"Can we eat now?" Lovino asked as he stared at longingly at the meal just beyond his reach. 

"Of course, dig in!"

Yet another meal ended with Lovino laying on the couch. As soon as he had been sure that Antonio was gone he had stripped himself down to his boxers, apparently having learned nothing from that morning. He wasn't quite asleep yet, and he hadn't eaten that much more than the other's had. But he could tell it was only a matter of minutes before he'd begin to pass border from heavy drowsiness and right over to sleep. But just before his eyelids were about to droop closed, he heard a door opening from way down the hall. It couldn't be Antonio's father, he had been away on business for quite some time now. And if it was Feliciano that was still awake surely the whole house would know by now.

"... Who is it?" Lovino called out, though he was already sure of the answer. A few moments later Antonio came down the hall and into plain view, and just to even the playing field he was wearing a pair of soccer shorts and nothing else.

"Sorry to wake you, I was just going to get myself a glass of water is all." He whispered as he made his way over to the couch, stopping right in front of Lovino. Looking closely you could tell that he was shaking quite a bit, despite the conspicuous lack of cold. 

"... Did you have a nightmare or something?" He asked in a blunt tone, causing Antonio to flinch.

"You... Could tell?"

"You're shaking of course I could fucking tell."

"Heh... Sorry."

"You can sit down you know."

Antonio was surprised when he was given permission to sit next to him, but the voices of his friends in his head told him to take the chance. Lovino scooted over just a bit to make room, and Antonio whispered a thanks to him. All he really wanted at the moment was a bit of comfort, but he wasn't sure if he could find it with Lovino. The two of them sat there for a while engulfed in utter silence, until out of the blue the Italian snatched the Spainyard and pulled him down to lay next to him on the couch. 

"Wh-" Antonio swallowed his words and put an arm back around Lovino, and seeing no negative reaction to this he proceeded to hold him close. It was only a few more awkward seconds before the atmosphere settled, and Antonio was left smiling to himself. Lovino saw this and rolled his eyes, letting out a huff.

"I'm only doing this because you're warm."

"Whatever you say." Antonio responded with a little laugh, and in return lovino gave him a head-butt in the chest. This successfully shut him up, and the two of them fell back asleep next to one another without another quarrel.


End file.
